Diacor News and Opinion

In a recent publication in The Lancet Oncology, Ronan J Kelly MD, and Professor Thomas J Smith MD, write about how the increasing prices of life saving cancer drugs can be prevented. These can be addressed by end of life care patterns, medical imaging, and the drugs themselves. In some cases, when the medical prognosis is not good, alternatives to continuing chemo can be replaced by less expensive hospice care. Second, instead of using PET scans, follow up with a physical exam or CAT scan. They write that it hasn't been shown that a PET scan is an essential part of treatment. And with the rising costs of PET scans, this may be something to look at. Thirdly, there is the cost of drugs themselves. This is something that doctors can do little about, but the authors say to keep in mind that if patients are not able to receive these lifesaving drugs, then they are probably going to die. To purchase the article, please click here. Keep following our blog for news in the healthcare field.

Today, February 4th, is World Cancer Day. Diacor recognizes all of the people and their families who have had to deal with this terrible disease. In order to commemorate the event, we are spreading awareness about the misconceptions about cancer. For more information, please visit the World Cancer Day by clicking here. Each of us can play a part in fighting this illness.

A recent discovery from researchers at the NYU School of Medicine has opened the door in finding how certain cancer cells ingest nutrients, which can lead to new drugs to fight cancer. It has been discovered that certain cancer cells, such as pancreatic cancer, uptake their large amount of nutrients required by a process known as macropinocytosis. This process involves a mutated protein known as Ras, which Ras cells require a lot of nutrients, that take in proteins and then harvest them for the amino acids. These findings can lead to drug treatments which could then block the Ras cells from uptaking the proteins, which can cause the tumor to stop growing, and even shrink. To purchase the full article, please visit the journal Nature or click here.

New figures released by Cancer Research UK show that by 2027 50 out of 100 men will develop some form of cancer at some point during their lives, in the United Kingdom. This is compared to 44 out of 100 in 2010. Women also saw an increase from 40 to 44 out of 100 in the same time period. One of the causes for this could be that people will live longer over the next 15 years, meaning that they would have an increased risk of developing cancer. The cancers that are set to increase the most in the next 15 years are prostate, bowel, and melanoma cancer. While the risk of developing cancer is increasing, the rate at which people are surviving cancer is as well. With new techniques to detect the disease and new treatments, survival has doubled in the last 40 years. For more information, please visit Cancer Research UK's website by clicking here.

Researchers from the University of Lund (Sweden), have reported in the official journal of the American Dairy Science Association, Journal of Dairy Science, that drinking milk can protect from colon cancer progression. Milk had been previously known to reduce the risk of diabetes and metabolic syndrome, and even positively impact your brain and mental performance. The researchers found that Lactoferricin4-14, a protein found in milk, considerably reduced the growth rate of colon cancer cells over the long term. To read the abstract and to purchase the full article, please click here.

Dermatologists from Penn State University say that a safe suntan does not exist. The incidence of melanoma, a fatal form of skin cancer, was eight times higher among women and also four times higher among men in 2009, and researchers say tanning beds are partly to blame. Among 25 to 29 olds, melanoma is the most common form of cancer, and the second most common form among 15 to 29 year olds. Researchers say that the reason for this is partly because of young women using the tanning beds; up to 80% of tanning salon clients are female. To view the full article in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, please click here.

Researchers, who have published their investigation in the American Cancer Society's journal Cancer, have found a correlation between people who have bitewing exams (an exam that holds a piece of x-ray film held by a tab in between the teeth) on a yearly or more frequent basis are 1.4 to 1.9 times as likely to develop meningioma, the most commonly diagnosed brain tumor in the US. There is also an increased risk with panorex exams (an exam taken outside of the mouth that show all of the teeth on one film). Those who received those exams when they were younger than ten years old had a 4.9 times increased risk of developing cancer, and those who received them on a yearly or more basis had a three times as likely chance of developing meningioma. To view the full article, please click here.

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found that an antibody blocks a protein known as CD 47. This protein sends off signals to the body's immune system telling it to pass it by when the macrophages and other cells that eat invaders come by. CD 47 is found in cancer cells, which is why the body's immune system does not fight cancer cells itself. In mice, this treatment significantly reduced the tumors ability to spread and made the tumors shrink and in some cases disappear within weeks of starting treatment. To visit the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences website and read the full article, please click here.

In three new studies published in The Lancet, researchers have found that people in their middle age who take low doses of daily aspirin have a reduced risk of dying from cancer. They also found that benefits start to show in two to three years, rather than the ten years than previously thought. Researchers also found that it can treat cancer, showing that it reduces the risk of spreading to other parts of the body by 40% - 50%. However, there are risks associated with taking low doses of aspirin every day. There is an increased chance of internal bleeding, especially in the stomach. Also, if you stop taking daily doses of aspirin you have an increased risk of having a stroke. Researchers recommend consulting with your doctor before starting low doses of aspirin every day. To read and purchase the full studies, please click here, here, and here.

Even though colorectal cancer cases have dropped significantly in the U.S. over the last decade, the cases for people under 50 have gone on the rise. Every year since 1992, the number of people under 50 diagnosed with the disease has increased by 2%, according to the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. They cite the case of Jessica Nixon, who was diagnosed with rectal cancer at age 25. According to Scott D Goldstein, M.D., of the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, screening isn't recommended until age 50, so the younger the person, the more likely they are to ignore the symptoms, and so the cases aren't caught early. To read the full article, please click here.